Ahmad: Only small risk in EPF’s 1MDB investments

KUALA LUMPUR: There is only a small risk in the investments made by the Employees Provident Fund in the 1Malaysia Development Bhd takeover of two independent power producers, said Deputy Finance Minister Datuk Ahmad Maslan (pic).

He said EPF bought RM200mil worth of bonds from 1MDB in 2009, which were fully guaranteed by the Government.

In 2003, EPF invested in independent power producer Panglima Power Sdn Bhd and in Jimah Energy Ventures Sdn Bhd in 2005.

These investments totalled RM1.52bil, he told the Dewan Rakyat during question time yesterday.

Ahmad said 1MDB then took over Panglima Power and Jimah Energy Ventures in 2012 and 2014, respectively.

At that time, the investments had small risks, he said when replying to a supplementary question by Nasrudin Hassan (PAS-Temerloh).

On another matter, Ahmad said EPF did not invest in businesses that were involved in gambling, alcoholic beverages, weapons or dealings with countries that do not have diplomatic ties with Malaysia, such as Israel.

As of December last year, more than 40% or RM250bil of the EPF’s total asset investments were syariah-compliant, he said.